Nitrogen Organic Farming

RESEARCH – NITROGEN – ORGANIC FARMING
harvesting crops Organic farming is an approach to agriculture where the aim is to create integrated, humane, environmentally and economically sustainable agricultural production systems. Organic farms achieve nitrogen self-sufficiency through the use of legumes and biological nitrogen fixation as well as effective recycling of organic materials including crop residues and livestock manures, rather than through the application of commercial fertilizers. Therefore, less nitrogen should leach to groundwater and release into surface waters.

Since organic farming often relies on the application of animal manure, please refer to the Animal Waste Management research pages for more information.

With funding from NRI, researchers with North Carolina State University and Center for Environmental Farming Systems are investigating various strategies, from a biological and economic systems perspective, for making the transition from a conventional to an organic agricultural production system. It has been documented that when growers transition from conventional to organic production systems, there is a period of suppressed yields followed by a return to yields near or equal to conventional production. In a long-term project involving more than 2,000 acres of land, six treatments, representing various strategies for transition and appropriate controls, are being monitored for a variety of parameters.

organic row crops The soil nitrogen levels in the organic farming systems increased 8 to 15 percent with nitrate leaching about equivalent in the organic and conventional farming systems determined a study at Cornell University.

The Minnesota Institute for Sustainable Agriculture at the University of Minnesota is heavily committed to organic agriculture. Institute staff members coordinate research and outreach efforts with the agricultural community to develop sustainable agriculture in Minnesota.

At the University of California at Davis, the UC Organic Farming Research Workgroup enhances communication and interaction among individuals involved in research and extension related to organic farming. Important objectives of the group are to share resources and prioritize research needs.

Researchers at Washington State University are improving our ability to predict nitrogen availability from organic soil amendments, target amendment application rates to meet crop N needs without over application, save input costs, and protect water quality.

University of New Hampshire Organic Farm Sign The Universities of Maine and New Hampshire (home of the Nation’s first Land Grant University Organic Dairy Herd) have been awarded a four year joint USDA CSREES Integrated Organic Program grant, Reducing Off-farm Grain Inputs on Northeast Organic Dairy Farms. They are identifying systems that reduce the importation of grain and prevent the accumulation of nutrient excesses to enhance the sustainability of organic dairies.

Researchers with USDA ARS and the Pennsylvania State University found that organic production systems were much more profitable than conventional systems on small dairy farms in Pennsylvania with only minor potential environmental problems related to nutrient management.